System Start
by Shipping Rates Apply
Summary: Inspired by the Zero and ZX series. "They weren't supposed to exist. They were forged as a way to foster peace and love amongst humans. But at what cost; the lives of the innocent and the equipment used to fight them? To him, it wasn't worth it at all."


AN: Well, I feel like I haven't been here for a while. Other than that, yeah. Enjoy.

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><p><strong><em>System Start<em>**

_Destructive Interference_

The sun began to set; the clouds slowly turned into a spectacular red-orange hue. A lone figure's footsteps clanked as it touched the surface of the dilapidated highway. He was a young boy no taller than five and a half feet and no older than fourteen. His hair was wavy brown and he wore a light coat with metal should plates and steel-soled combat boots. From the distance, he spots the dark silhouette of a city. His body tensed and he approached with caution. With each passing step, the atmosphere changed drastically: the air pressure grew heavy and the person seemed to resonate as he entered entered the strange area. The power of whatever is causing this strange phenomenon is incredibly powerful. He pushed forward as the change doesn't affect him at all. He walked by a multitude of abandoned military jeeps and tanks; all lined with bullet holes and the remains of soldiers littered about, attacking whatever did this to them.

The smell was horrific to the average person but he wasn't phased by the stench. He knelt down and investigated the vehicle and the soldiers that lay lifeless within. The bullet holes on their trucks weren't rugged, but smooth, as if a laser cutter made it. The wreck next to it was strange as the whole vehicle was sliced neatly into three pieces; including the passengers in it. He knows what might've caused this devastating amount destruction, but he has to see it before he can take action.

He approached the boundary of the metropolis but did not find a ruined citadel. The city itself was not utterly destroyed. In fact, everything was almost intact. But at a closer glance, it seems that every structure was warped, pointing to a single point in space. The buildings seemed to disintegrate into tiny, purple, pixel-like fragments that disappear into nothing as it neared that point. The ground around it though was even stranger. Red, pulsating lights seemed to line every street and these pixel-like fragments blanketed the city, like bricks scattered amongst a broken house.

There was no sign of life in the area. Suddenly, his earpiece began to ring static. A voice can be heard but whatever it was saying wasn't clear.

"Can...ear...me...ammi...strong. Clear...rea..." The boy can make out a familiar voice but the interference was strong.

"Crea, can you try to disrupt the jamming signal?" The person asked out of nowhere as he glanced over to his right side. A sudden bright blue light appeared over his shoulder and materialized into a sprite-like being. It seemed to wear a long, robe-like garment and a shiny, white crown with a cyan gem in the middle of its forehead. It flew around cheerily and hovered around his head.

"Sorry, Max." The sprite Crea said disappointingly. "The area seems to be unloading a strong, low-frequency data pulse. It's hard to cancel it out at your current state."

Her body began to distort and become faded because of the jammer. The radio static suddenly rang in his ears once more.

"There is a...tinel...nity..." The voice was heavily blurred from the disturbance. "...roid...natures...destroy it...jam...caution...it...anos..." And the line fizzled to silence. Max tapped his communicator and nothing seemed to take out the jammer. He stood up and looked at the city. What kind of power could cause such damage and distortion?

"Were you able to make that out?" He asked. Crea shook her head in uncertainty.

"No." She then flew ahead of him and started to glow a brighter blue. "The only thing I'm certain of is that a Sentinel or a System could be causing this disturbance."

Max clenched his fists and his heart began to beat faster. He remembered the remains of the military convoy a few miles back and only they can cause that amount of damage to a large military convoy. His thoughts wandered and it often led to one thing.

"You okay?" The sprite snapped him back to reality. Her face showed a look of concern.

"Yeah, peachy." He said with a calm smile. As he looked at her, he caught a glimpse of a sudden distortion of Crea's body. She quickly scrunched into a fetal position and fizzled out in the air.

"Crea! What happened? Where are you?" Max was startled. Did the jamming cause Crea to vanish? But as he panicked, he heard a loud holler from nowhere. It was Crea and she sounded fine, although her pitch sounded lower.

"The jamming signal became too strong for my materialization to hold." She said with a grunt. She liked to fly around in her material form, not lazing around in that _place_. "Approach this area with caution. If it's strong enough to cancel my materialization, the Sentinel present may cause severe damage and pose a major threat towards our convoy."

"Jeez, Crea!" Max said, frustrated over her disappearance. He ignored her warnings about the area, still "Don't scare me like that! I got worried!"

"Don't worry, I'm fine." She giggled at Max's concern. She found it amusingly cute. "You know I can't be taken out by a data pulse. But still, exercise caution."  
>Max sighed at her response and walked towards the city. Arguing with Crea never seems to go to his favor.<p>

"You know, you're a pain sometimes."

"I'm a part of you. Deal with it."

As Max took his first step into the area, he suddenly felt the strong energy readings in the area. It felt like a heavy weight was just dropped onto his back. Max stumbled to his knees and he struggled standing up. Crea managed to appear again, but her degree of distortion was worse.

"There's a severe drop of A.E. within this area." She began. Through Max's Optical Visor System, he suddenly sees graphs and information regarding the amount of A.E. remaining within this area. He noticed a severe decrease since he first arrived in the area to his entry into the city.

"So this is what happens when Active Energy goes below." He said, still awed at the first time he saw the effect first hand. Active Energy holds the fabric of information together and without it, matter degenerates into nothing, as if it never existed. Crea's light began to dim as they traveled deeper into the area. The sky had become a dark indigo and the sun's light vanished. The only lights in the city were the strange red lines on the streets.

"Corruption occurs very fast when something has enough power to drain an area of its Active Energy." Crea's expression was blank and her tone, stoic. "The Sentinel that we're dealing here is probably an Assimilator. But how much energy did this Assimilator take that it's discharging this much data?"

"You think something else could be causing the discharge?"

"Highly unlikely. The closest thing that could create something this drastic of a discharge is the Original." Max's heart began beating faster at the word.

"You think he's here?" Max touched the ground with his hands and the dirt vanished into the air. The red lines pulsed faster and brighter under the night sky. Each step he took made a crackling sound like walking on dried leaves. Crea decided to vanish again as her materialization gave into the pulses.

"If he was, we'd be dead the moment we went in here." She said.

Max gulped. She didn't lie. If the Original was here, he has no way of defeating it. He was unprepared and at the moment, weak. Sweat began to trickle down his brow and the thoughts of the Original diverted his attention from the obvious danger: from the dark corner of an abandoned building; red dots seemed to track his movements, following his every move. A strange, yet soft hum seemed to grow louder as each second ticked.

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><p>The girl removed the large visor from her head and rubbed her temples. Her brown hair seemed to frizz as she set down the helmet-like device. She took a deep breath and looked at the main operation screen at the Server Room. The satellite map of the abandoned city hung above and several blinking cross-hairs dotted the area. Unfortunately for her, they cannot visually follow Max's progress because of the jammer.<p>

"Faye, there's nothing else we can do right now." A woman said from her server console. "You go rest. It's very late."

Faye resisted and longed to stay, yet her eyes showed exhaustion. "But-"

"No 'buts', Miss Allister. I don't want you to push yourself too hard." She said in a very motherly tone, obviously concerned for the girl. Faye could do nothing but comply.

She stood up from her console and walked out of the Server Room, seeing that there will be nothing she could do because of the jammer. All the operators could do is wait for the jammer be taken out and come to contact Max again. She greeted the staff good night and walked the long hallway of the facility and went back to her room and rest. She reached her room, which was a long distance away from the noisy server room. She slid her pass card onto the reader and her doors hissed open. She looked at the digital clock on her bedside and read: '3:55'. It was late and lucky for Max; it was just thirty minutes after sunset at his location. She tossed her jacket and slipped off her shoes, walked towards her bed crashed on top of it. She breathed a sigh of worry.

"Why do you have to fight...?"She whispered in a sad tone. The bed next to hers ruffled and the lights turned on. A girl with red hair stared at her and grinned. She wore a simple white tank top and gray sweatpants.

"About time you showed up." She said, with a yawn. "What made you so late?"

Faye took off her clothes and began dressing up for the night and the girl sat up on the bed, hugging the pillow.

"Max's mission was worrying me and I had to monitor his movements." She said as she put on a flower-patterned pajama top. "You know it's hard being an Operator."

The girl chuckled. "You know the kid's tough. He doesn't need a naggy girl like you in his ear all the time."

Faye laughed with her a sat down on her bed, twirling her hands. "Well, it's my first time monitoring his missions. I thought it would be fun helping him in some way."

"Ooh, can't live without him, huh?" The girl cooed and Faye, in embarrassment, threw the pillow at the girl. She laughed hysterically and Faye's face flushed a bright red.

"Cora!" She said, flustered. Cora laughed even harder to the point she hit her head on the metal wall. Faye giggled at her friend's little mishap.

"Ow!" She cried, rubbing her head. "Damn wall."

She lay back down to her bed and spun the covers around her, making a loose, cotton cocoon. Faye also lay back on her bed, tossing the covers above her. She closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep. She tossed and turned around but it seems she can't catch that elusive sudden knock out.

"Don't worry too much about him." Cora said tiredly, noting her worry. "The kid's tough. He's already taken more than a few Sentinels and even survived an encounter with Noir. Just trust him that he'll be back." She chuckled a bit and closed her eyes to sleep. "After all, he never breaks a promise."

Cora's words of comfort made Faye feel as if a big load has been lifted from her for the time being. After saying their goodnights, Faye shut off the lights but didn't fall asleep instantly. She looked at the clock again: '4:31'.

_"Trust him, huh..."_

She wished that he and the rest of them should've never fought in the war at all. She's lost so many people close to her and he's going to be one of them if he's not careful. Her heart knows that she knows he'll be back alive. But what if he doesn't? She didn't even bother with thinking about it. Faye flipped to her side and went to sleep; hoping that somehow, she would wake up and this war would turn out to be just a dream. A very bad dream.

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><p>As Max walked forward along the streets, he turns his head behind him every few moments. Unaware of any danger and without Crea in her physical form, he cannot detect any potential dangers in the area. He never fought in a night setting ever. This is unknown combat territory but he had to deal with it and rely on his instincts. He looked at the ruins around him. There were remnants of cars, buildings, everyday objects. They all were deteriorating into those fragments of data. The moment he saw the first human remains on these streets, he felt his stomach churn. A person who loses their Active Energy shrivels up into a mummified state; their bodies dry up and become as fragile as thin glass. He takes a step over one body but missteps and trips down, shattering the remains. He shuffles away, disgusted at this scene. As the light from the ground pulsed, he catches the glimpse of a small doll, somewhat intact but deteriorating fast. He tried to pick it up but it simple faded away the moment he touched it.<p>

He walked towards the deeper area where the degree of destruction was the greatest. He walked into the area and there were deep and dark holes in the streets, the darkness of the night made it seem they were bottomless. There was a large crevasse between the main highways. Max walked back and jumped over it. He landed and teetered over the edge but managed to get his balance. He tried to ignore the long rant that Crea had to yell in his head for being reckless but she was too loud. The long line of light from the main highway began to split like tree roots; going everywhere in every direction. The whole place was lit by the red lines, giving it a menacing feel. But something about the area made him feel very uncomfortable. The distortion definitely grew stronger as Crea can't even appear anymore on her physical form and is now affecting him to a strong degree. The pulses seemed to create waves in the air. Max couldn't bear the pulses and sat down to take a rest. The pressure of the area wasn't helping him walk off the pain. He sat down as if his body gave way to the pressure. Max began to take deep pants. The data surges began to take its toll on his body. Although Crea pleaded, he still refused to counteract it, at the risk of being detected. She began to worry about his state and quickly analyzed his status. She saw that his body's stress response was hitting critical, the sensors on his system were flashing red.

"Your body is taking dangerous stress from this area. I suggest you-" Whatever her suggestion was, it was cut short by a beam of energy passing right between them and smashing the wall behind them. Max quickly dove for cover amongst the distorted ruins. Explosions began to ring around the area. It seems he just narrowly evaded a nasty explosion. Max looked from the corner and his suspicions were confirmed.

Strange androids began walking along the ruins. Their limbs were thin, slender and seemed to taper off at a point. Their cannon-like arms hummed loudly because of the plasma engines that drive them and their weapons. Their heads were perfect spheres with ominous, central cameras that can see any movement they make. The machines walked awkwardly; twitching and jerking with each of their steps. Their guns seemed to go off randomly and in strange intervals.

Max slumped over the ground, holding his head. From his vision, his energy became critically low. His own status read only at eight percent. It was dropping fast. His body immediately reacted and began to rejuvenate him. But the energy he discharged was immediately caught by the androids. The droids marched closer and closer, some even firing their bursts early on. One of the shots managed to cause an explosion that caught him off guard. Crea began to analyze the completion of the restoration.

_"Seven percent!"_ Crea struggled to stand up and he held out his right hand in front of him, his left keeping it up. The fire from the outside grew louder and it seemed even more of these machines traveled to his position.

_"Six percent!"_ Max's body began its own data discharge. His body began to gather the pixel like fragments around him and they shone a brilliant white than their dull purple counterparts. They all focused at his open palm, creating a shining orb of light.

_"Five percent!"_ The droids began to sense the strange data discharge different from the area. It seemed to cancel the interference out and cause them to stutter at freeze. Their sensors showed a high A.E. output coming from within one of the buildings. Their guns hummed louder and they began to close in. Lock-On crosshairs appeared in their line of vision and targeted the bright white blob representing Max.

_"Four percent!"_ Max began to manipulate the data he unleashed and began to place it around his body. His clothes disintegrated into these white pixels and began to revolve around him, leaving nothing but the under-suit he wore. The slight outline of full body armor began to materialize into his body.

_"Three!"_ The drones closed in and their guns hummed loudly as they charged. A small yellow ball of energy amassed in from of their gun's barrel. The raised their arms and in sync, pointed at the same direction. The balls began to warp, growing at an unstable rate.

_"Two-"_ And they fired. The ionized and fluid movements of the plasma made it spin and warp into a massive ball of energy. The attack finally connected to the wall and created a deep and smoldering crater. The building that was hit by the powerful blast stood but the structure seemed to disintegrate even faster and toppled slightly to the left. From the droid's cameras, the plasma created even more white blobs that seemed to appear and disappear from their sensors. What was once left of their target seemed too fizzed out into existence. With their mission done, the droids turned back, walking awkwardly.

Suddenly, something crashed down from the sky and grazed a lone droid in its path, cutting it neatly in two from the torso. The droids quickly turned and detected a large, glowing claymore-like sword, deeply imbedded into the ground. The sword was surging with intense amounts of A.E.. The droids then noticed an intense spike of Active Energy and locked onto something behind them. It stood up straight with a long, metallic jacket with a silver crest with a shining blue sphere in the middle. Below it were two other spheres lined at the center and the creases seemed to resemble a complex locking mechanism. The limbs were free, arms covered by long silver sleeves and the legs were shielded by metallic greaves. His helmet was similar to Crea's crown except it was tapered at the forehead, making it seem like he was glaring at whatever was in front of him. The red pulsing lights reflected off from his silvery armor, creating a menacing aura of red.

"Oh great! Cover's blown!" He said as he rushed to grab his claymore. Crea sighed next to him, her materialization stabilized because of his body's cancellation of the data surge.

"Pretty much, you dolt!" She yelled next to him gritting her teeth. "Prepare to engage! Corruption Droid Count: Two-six!"

Max looked ahead and the droids began firing at him. His metal greaves opened up valves that released a jet of cool plasma and he jumped high into the air and engaged the droids as they fired wildly. He gripped his sword hard and swung it down, sending a crescent wave of energy hurling towards the enemy. The thunderous crash created a cloud of fragmented data. He quickly heard strange beeps and clicks around him and the drones' movements suddenly began to stabilize and grow more coordinated. He had to take them out before they charge enough energy. He jumped over one droid and landed in between two fidgeting drones that quickly they fell through a single swing of the enormous blade. An ear-piercing screech brought caught Max off guard and brought him to his knees.

_"Oh joy."_

He gripped his sword tighter as he stood against the multitude of drones that suddenly materialized from the purple fragments on the ground. These drones moved faster, acted more organized than their fidgety counterparts and their attacks were even more accurate. Max cursed under his breath and charged towards the droids. The boots' jet vents shone a bright bluish-white as he dashed towards them; hovering just inches above the ground. Several of the droids rushed towards him firing and hitting him, but Max was able to skirt along as he glided over the shots. The droids who were in his way were decapitated as he passed by. Suddenly, a strong green shock wave out of nowhere struck the side of his torso, sending him into the walls of a crushed building. He coughed from the dust but quickly stood up. He looked above and his eyes opened in surprise. He caught the glimpse of a red-eyed figure with a long, green blade. He seemed to grin sinisterly, gazing at him. Max was about to give chase until the droids discovered him and attacked. He jumped to his left and threw his blade like a boomerang, cutting down several droids until it crashed to the ground. Max ran towards the blade, his hands shone a bright blue aura. Droids began to materialize again around him and he dashed faster. The drones pursued and fired as Crea began to do her own attacks, sending small bursts of energy at the droids, disorienting them. Max managed to reach his blade and pull it out of the ground. He let the energy in his hands flow into the blade and jumped into a mass of droids approaching him and sent him and the blade through the ground. Waves of energy pulsed below the ground, attacking the drones from below by a yellow beam of energy. The fragments around him began to fade into the air. Parts of the fallen droids remained scattered around him. It seemed the ground was cleared of the corruption, leaving only loose gravel and sand of what was once asphalt. He paused and looked around for the mysterious character.

"It's him!" he yelled and tried to give chase but Crea flew right in front of him blocking his way.

"Hey!" She said, her hands placed on her hips sassily. "Where do you think you're going? You are in no condition to fight him!"

"I have no time for your sass! I have to stop whatever he's planning!" He said. His grip grew tighter on his blade. "If he's the cause of this, I have to take him out! Nobody else can!"

"Are you nuts?" She yelled. "If you do that, we'd be dead! We're only here to engage the Assimilator and stop the jamming frequency! Avoid all confrontation!"

"I'm not letting him get away for the things he did!"

"What's this?" Someone said, amused at their bickering. Max and Crea quickly looked ahead of them and saw the mysterious figure from before walking towards them. His black hair was long and disheveled; his eyes seemed deeply sunken in his face. He was tall and slender; his hand was a simple armlet with a cone-shaped turbine spinning rapidly. Crea looked at him in fear and flew back to Max's shoulder. The man spat at the ground. "Excellion and his Sprite are bickering! About me! How touching!"

"Thanos..." Max said with venom.

"Well, you remembered my name, now I forgot yours." He said laughing. "Now, how's that friend of yours doing? Oh, what's his name...Ah, yes! Nathan! How is the boy? Did I break him to the point that your humans can't fix him?"

Max gritted his teeth in anger and the man raised his chin and grinned maniacally as a response. The gem from his helmet shone a brighter blue. Max couldn't let him go this easily. Insulting him was something he could ignore, but insulting a friend that fell under his sadistic control was crossing the line. Max charged at him, his sword swinging in every direction but the man dodged each swing so fast, his attacks were futile. Max tried to feint a strike and swing it under the man but Thanos anticipated and he blocked it with his own sword; a pure energy blade from his right armlet. He unleashed his own sword strikes; Max was barely able to keep up. He grinned sinisterly as they sparred, his eyes opened wide. Suddenly, Max focused some of his energy into his sword and brought it down on the man; exploding as it connected with the ground. The dust cleared and he and saw that no one was there. Max looked behind him and a spinning kick to his head sent him to the ground like a rag-doll. His sword vanished into data as it hit the ground. Crea tried to assist by spinning around Thanos' head, disorienting him but a swipe of his large hand sent her flying into Max's arms.

Thanos cackled. "That was exhilarating, wasn't it?" He raised his arms and stretched, he tried to regain his composure as he began laughing uncontrollably.  
>"Now, I'm not here to kill you. <em>Yet<em>." He said, finally calming down. "But _we_ have a big party all planned out. And I'm simply here to hand you a personal invitation to it!" Thanos began to absorb the fragments of data around him as a pillar of light enveloped him.

"I'll terminate you then, Excellion!" And he vanished. Max stood up groggily and held his head. Thanos' kick was strong but he shook it off.

"Crea?" He said, concerned about the tiny sprite. "Are you alright?"

She shook her head and flew around in circles and smiled, her body was unharmed.

"Never been better. The better question is: 'Are you?'."

Max stood and gazed at the damaged he caused. Parts of the droids still littered. It also seemed that the droids had stopped appearing. Cree noticed that Max was still hurt after Thanos' jeer. But Max assured her that he was fine and said:  
>"We'll get him the next time. Let's find that Assimilator."<p>

Suddenly, heavy tremors shook the ground, catching him off guard. He heard loud crashing sounds approaching from afar. The ruins of the skyscrapers around him crumbled to the ground because of the tremors. Crea sensed high-energy pulses comings straight towards them; the pulses from before had appeared again and had grown stronger.

"It's...coming..." Crea stuttered as the disruption became too strong for her to handle. Max managed to use his energy to cancel the strong data and remain unaffected but Crea had to retreat. Max and noticed a large, lumbering shadow approaching them. Tubes and wires flowed from its arm-like appendages and they swung wildly and often crashed into buildings. Its body was lined with heavy plates and two glowing generator on its back. When Max caught a closer glimpse of the beast, he thought it looked like a large turtle.

"Looks like we found him." Max began to surge the energy around him and focused it on his claymore. The lumbering giant approached and stopped in front of him. Its size was enormous; about sixteen feet tall. Each step the monstrosity took shook the ground below.

"W-wait!" The giant stuttered as it looked around the area, looking for something. "L-Lord Thanos? Why did you leave so early?"

It noticed Max as he charged his sword with more energy. His gargantuan height made Max seem nothing but the size of a small dog. It bent down and glared at him. The Sentinel's head unit seemed to swivel about and jerk. It then stopped and leaned towards him.

"You! You drove him out!" It yelled in anger. To Rho's dismay, it just noticed the high energy that is cancelling out his own. It looked at its energy sensors and they were incredibly concentrated and high. It was similar to Thanos' signatures but the source was coming from Max. "Wait! You're a System like my master! But you were the one that stopped my absorption of the energy! An enemy are you? If I absorb you, then I would get enough energy for our Master! It would please Lord Thanos!"

Max glared at the lumbering giant in front of him and told Crea:

"Prepare to engage."

"Gotcha!" Max's armor began to shine brighter and pulsate in bright colors. One of the crystal spheres in his armor suddenly lost its blue light and it released vast amounts of data into his body, restoring the damage he took from the previous battles. The pulses of energy eventually calmed down. The claymore extended in size, splitting into four segments, the blades of energy began to glow green and his eyes changed color to a ruby red. Small fragments of data orbited his blade. The charge was full.

_"Stage one limiter has been released. Ready to absorb enemy A.E.." _Crea and Max said in sync.

Max looked at Rho with lethal intent. "I'm really not in the mood for this!"

Rho laughed heartily. "Arrogant brat!"

It stomped its foot, creating violent tremors. Max was not affected and stayed balanced through the violent shaking. "You think you can order me? I am Sentinel Rho! Your energy shall satisfy our Masters and myself!"

Rho's arms unloaded onto the ground and began to absorb whatever energy remained from the ground and its tanks shone a brighter purple. The wires from its hands fused into its joins and six of the wires came from its back, squirming like snakes. The ground began to collapse under them from the lack of Active Energy. It crashed its limbs together and dropped to all four legs. He roared loudly and prepared for battle. Max's vision blinked red repeatedly and he stood his ground. His vision locked onto Rho. A small beep resonated to his ears and his crosshair locked onto the large Sentinel's chest.

_"WARNING. WARNING. CLASS B SENTINEL DETECTED. PREPARE TO ENGAGE."_

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><p><strong><span>Author's Note:<span>**That's all I did. I mean, I did this way before, around two to four years ago. But this is a simple idea that I thought about. I'll never continue this on, for your information, unless a large demographic reads this and likes this.

Also, Crea is not Baby Elf Crea. Not Baby Elf Crea is totes much cuter.

Crea's functions are simply melded from both the Mimic Elf Croire/Charite/Nouvelle/Recrue's abilities and the Biometals.

So Read and Review guys.

Hearts and Kissies.


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